Chapter 17

The first thing the fat man did when he woke up was to grab the gun, but he found that his hands and feet were tightly bound, leaving him unable to move. Upon closer inspection, he realized he was in a different room, no longer in the inn's guest room.

"Damn, even being so careful, I still fell into an ambush!" The fat man sighed inwardly. If not for his dull sense of smell, he wouldn't have been affected by the sedative. He should have taken action first when he noticed the innkeeper and his daughter acting strangely. Now it was too late.

After a while of complaining, the fat man began to carefully observe the room's furnishings. When he saw the oil lamp still burning, his eyes lit up. He struggled to get up, then hobbled to the table where the oil lamp was placed. He bent down and used his mouth to grab the oil lamp, moving it to the edge of the table. Then he turned around, adjusted his position, and used the small flame of the oil lamp to burn the hemp rope binding his arms.

"Ouch, it hurts..." Since his hands were tied behind his back, he couldn't see where the flame was burning. The fire on his back made him grit his teeth, and he hated the innkeeper and his daughter who had drugged him. After much effort, he finally adjusted his position, but the heat from the flame was unbearable. By the time the thin hemp rope was burned through, his back was almost cooked. The fat man angrily vowed that if he ever caught that father and daughter, he would make them pay with their blood.

Enduring the pain, the fat man quickly untied the ropes on his legs. Just as he was about to leave the room, his keen hearing picked up the sound of footsteps. He paused for a moment, then quickly grabbed the ropes and lay back on the bed, tying a loose knot around his feet and hands, and continued to pretend to be unconscious.

"Boss, the fat translator that Second Boss brought back is in there," a voice came from outside the door as the fat man finished his preparations.

"Alright, open the door. I'll bring the Seer in, and you all stay outside the door," a voice with a strong presence said.

"Yes, Boss," the people outside the door responded in unison.

Then came the sound of the lock being opened, followed by the door being pushed open.

"Seer, please! I've brought you here to examine the fat man lying on the bed. Check if he has a rebellious bone at the back of his head," the strong voice said again.

"Where's the skull? Where's the skull?" an elderly voice asked.

"Old man, feel here..." The strong voice said, and soon the fat man felt a pair of dry hands feeling all over his face, muttering as they did so.

"Forehead is full, high cheekbones, high occipital bone, a sign of wealth and honor, but the eyebrows are like a sword, the nose is prominent, and the aura of killing is too strong..."

"Seer, you were asked to come to check if the fat man has a rebellious bone at the back of his head. Why are you feeling his face?" the strong voice asked again.

"Boss, why are you in such a hurry? To check the bones, we must first examine the front, then the back. Turn him over," the elderly voice said.

"Alright!" The strong voice responded, and the fat man felt himself being grabbed by a pair of large hands with incredible strength. His two-hundred-pound body was then flipped over and laid face down on the bed.

The elderly, dry hands felt all over again, and the fat man heard a "hmm" followed by the sound of a cane falling to the ground. The hands then repeatedly felt the back of his head, and the old man muttered, "Strange bone, strange bone, a once-in-five-hundred-years occurrence, destined for great success, above all others!"

"Seer, does this fat man really have a rebellious bone? You can't be wrong, can you?" the strong voice asked impatiently.

Last night, Second Sister, who was as beautiful as Diaochan, and Fourth Boss Jia Daode captured this fat man and a group of Eighth Route Army soldiers. The Tiger Mouth Mountain bandits, who claimed to fight for justice against the Japanese, never contacted the anti-Japanese forces. The Eighth Route Army was neither an enemy nor a friend.

Originally, Boss Sai Laohu planned to release the dozen or so Eighth Route Army soldiers, but Fourth Boss Jia Daode suddenly reported that Second Boss Sai Diaochan had captured a fat Japanese translator. Jia Daode was about to kill him, but Sai Diaochan stopped him, wanting to keep the fat man alive to interrogate him about the Japanese minefield layout.

The Japanese minefield had compressed the bandits' activity area to just the Tiger Mouth Mountain, cutting off their food supply. With over three hundred brothers in the band, they couldn't go without food. Sai Diaochan kept the fat man to find out about the minefield and lead the band to get food.

When Jia Daode and Sai Diaochan were moving the unconscious fat man, Jia Daode felt an unusual bone at the back of his head. He suddenly remembered the Seer's bone reading for Sai Diaochan. After bringing the fat man back to the bandit camp, Jia Daode quickly reported to Boss Sai Laohu, who promptly invited the Seer.

"Hmph, does Boss doubt my skills? I've never been wrong in my life. In Shanghai, Mr. Chiang Kai-shek had a strange bone, and I predicted he would become a great leader. I can't be wrong!" the old man said.

"Five hundred years?" The strong voice was puzzled. How could it be that short?

The fat man ignored all the feudal superstitions and was only thinking about how to escape. The strong voice must belong to Boss Sai Laohu of Tiger Mouth Mountain. He had easily flipped the fat man's two-hundred-pound body. If he wanted to escape from Sai Laohu, he had to defeat him in one move, or he would be in trouble.

He could only pretend to be unconscious and let Sai Laohu and the Seer do as they pleased.

Only after Sai Laohu and the Seer left did the fat man roll up and sit up, listening carefully. The bandits guarding the door were breathing evenly, clearly dozing off. He looked up at the roof of the brick house and sneered. It was impossible for such a house to confine him.

He carefully moved the table under the beam, placed a chair on top, and climbed up. He grabbed the beam with his hands and kicked hard with his feet, using all his strength to hoist his two-hundred-pound body onto the beam. Then he carefully stood on the narrow beam and moved the tiles one by one to the side.

When a large hole appeared in the roof, the fat man stopped. He then used the wooden beams to support himself and climbed onto the roof.

"Crack" When the fat man's foot first touched the roof, his weight immediately broke a tile, startling him. The two bandits guarding the door were puzzled and about to enter the room.

"Meow, meow..." The fat man quickly imitated a cat's meow.

"Damn, bad luck, a cat in heat." The bandits cursed and realized what was happening, but they didn't enter the room.

The fat man wiped the sweat from his forehead, knowing that the wooden beams on the roof couldn't support his weight for long. He had to leave quickly, or the roof would collapse, and he would have no chance of escaping. So he carefully walked on the roof and disappeared.